Blood, Bruises, and Scars

You may have noticed... we take a lot of yoga pictures around here. I swear they're not all for vanity's sake. Sometimes I get pictures so I can assess my poses and my progress with an objective eye. I don't practice around mirrors or teachers and I need to see where things really are in relation to what's going on in my mind's eye. Sometimes I have Adam snap pics of new breakthroughs. When something new and impressive happens... I like a picture to celebrate it... and to look at later when I'm doubting my abilities. Some of them are just for the sake of it. I don't know.

I have pics in houses, at parks, on University sidewalks, on the ledges of art pieces, riversides, forest clearings, beaches... I have them all over. I'd like to keep this up and get pics in more unconventional locations. However, sometimes it means braving something uncomfortable or weird. Like the fact that there's always someone around looking at you thinking you're weird. On top of that are sun in your eyes, wind ruining your hair, and trying not to get things like footprints and boots in the pics. It's a whole thing.



My knees looking better than the initial damage.

To get pics like this, sometimes I just suck it up and try to make it quick. From that I have a variety of battle marks... like these knee bruises I got recently on that big rock, matching scars on my elbows from doing forearm stands on ridiculously hard and scratchy surfaces, and a scar on my ankle that looks like I got it from shaving - but really it's from accidentally dragging that ankle across a concrete patio during an asana transition. I don't do a whole lot of injurious activities, but I have scars from all sorts of silly yoga stuff. Somehow, every single time I learn a new advanced pose - I shed blood. Not from anything exciting... usually from fingernails. Crazy. Just another reason to keep them short.